The Use of Response Surface Methodology for the Study of the Effect of Liquid Recirculation Rate on the Hydrogen Sulfide Removal Performance of a Biotrickling Filter Employing Immobilised Thiobacilluc thioparus

In this study, the effect of liquid recirculation rate (LRR), empty bed residence time (EBRT), and inlet concentration of hydrogen sulfide (Cgi) on Elimination Capacity (EC) and Removal Efficiency (RE) of hydrogen sulfide in a biotrickling filter employing Thiobacilluc thioparus immobilised onpolyurethane foam was investigated at three levels using a Box-Behnken design of experiment(DOE). Two quadratic regression models describing the relationship between the three factors withinthe levels studied and the two responses were developed which could adequately describe the performance indicators. The results show that increasing LRR at constant levels of Cgi has a slight positive impact on EC of BTF. Also, increasing LRR at constant EBRTs had a positive impact on ECof BTF at moderate and high levels of Cgi while this impact was negligible at low levels of Cgi. Onthe other hand, at constant levels of Cgi, increasing LRR (from 175 to 350 ml/min) had a positive impact on RE but further increase in LRR caused reduction of RE of the biotrickling filter. At constant EBRTs and high levels of Cgi, increasing LRR had a pronounced positive effect on RE of the BTF

Keywords:

Biotricking Filter , Polyurethane Foam , Thiobacilluc thioparus , Liquid Recirculation Rate , Box-Behnken Design